The call is going out! Stop Breaking Up Families, Stop the Raids, Stop the Deportations!

A message from Freedom for Families:

National Day of Prayer for Children and Families

Good Friday, April 6, 2007

More than one in ten families in the United States are of mixed immigrant status where at least one parent is a non-citizen and one child is a U.S. citizen. An estimated 3.1 million U.S. citizen children have at least one parent who is undocumented. According to current immigration law, deportation is a mandatory punishment for undocumented immigrants and non-citizens, including long-term and legal permanent residents, even when a judge thinks they deserve to stay in the U.S. to help raise and support their families. The results? Every year, nearly 200,000 non-citizens are deported, many with children who are U.S. citizens. These American children may have to start over in a country with a new language, fewer resources and an uncertain future. America’s immigration laws force American children to lose their parent or their country.

(Washington, DC) Today, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials continued their heartless strategy of raiding workplaces to arrest law abiding immigrant workers and tear their families apart. The overwhelming female workforce was taken into custody in the Baltimore area, separating mothers from their children, including the mother of a 4-month old U.S. citizen baby.

This recent raid comes on the heels of a controversial raid in New Bedford, Massachusetts that stranded well over 100 children whose parents were arrested and detained while going about their work day.

Statement of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement:

“Today’s raids are a part of the Bush Administration’s heartless strategy to appear ‘tough’ on immigrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has only managed to disrupt the lives of young children, mothers, fathers, and entire communities. We are at a moral crossroads as a nation. If it is legal to make orphans out of hundreds of young citizen children, then we clearly need to change the law and fix a badly broken immigration system.

“The Administration’s raids policy has nothing to do with security, but rather is a morally twisted public relations stunt separating moms and dads from their children.

What: In what appears to be a repeat of the humanitarian crisis in New Bedford, Massachusetts earlier this month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has raided another factory, this time in Glen Burnie, Maryland. We are hearing reports of immigrant woman being taken into custody leaving young children stranded at school and in the custody of caregivers. Casa de Maryland will hold a press conference today at 4pm EST in Baltimore to respond. The press conference is being held at the site of employment agency that supplied the workers to the factory.

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FIRM (Fair Immigration Reform Movement) is a coalition of grassroots community organizations nationwide and the uniting voice of...